INTRODUCTION
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Kṛṣṇa now goes deeper. In prayer, we pray to God; in meditation, we become God! Prayers give us immediate results. Praying to that higher principle or to the Divine is not wrong, yet it is not enough. Whereas in meditation, we become that higher principle or the Divine to which we constantly pour out our prayers. This is permanent. The Divine is nothing but a mirror; we see our own reflection. And whatever we do to the Divine comes back to us. The more we understand, the more we grow and relate with the Divine in a more mature way.
In the words of the SPH, I have seven kinds of people who approach me: One, people who approach me out of greed; two, people who approach me out of fear; three, people who approach me out of worry; four, people who approach me for name and fame; five, people who approach me out of jealousy and comparison; six, people who approach me out of ego, to strengthen their ego by saying, 'I am a disciple of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam
I am close to him. He knows my name.' Just to have ego satisfaction they come to swamiji; finally, seven—there are a few, very few who approach swamijij out of gratitude. At different levels, people approach the Master or God. The more mature we are, the more we will feel connected to that person who will give us fulfillment. When we become mature, when we are above fear and greed, we will approach the same Master, the same God, with more maturity, with more intimacy. We will feel deeply connected to him
In Bhāgavatam (Hindu epic glorifying devotion onto incarnations), we learn about five different attitudes with which we normally relate with a Master or God:
Dāsa Bhāva—seeing God as a lord or master and oneself as a servant, as with Hanumān who saw Rāma as his master and served Him as a path for liberation. Vātsalya Bhāva— seeing God as a divine child, as with Yaśodā who saw Kr̥ṣṇa as her son. Sakha Bhāva—seeing God or the master as a friend, the way Arjuna related with Kr̥ṣṇa. Mātr̥ Bhāva—seeing God or the master as a father or mother, the way Śrī Rāmakr̥ṣṇa related with goddess Kāli (representation of the divine mother). Finally, the fifth attitude is madhura bhāva—seeing God as a beloved, the way Rādhā saw Kr̥ṣṇa.
This attitude needs a tremendous amount of maturity. Only if we experience the consciousness which is beyond the body, can we relate with the Divine with the attitude of a beloved, madhura bhāva.
The more mature we are, the more the gratitude happens.
The less the maturity, the more
we fill our life with prayers.
Prayer is greed; confession is fear!
‘Gratitude is the greatest prayer,
and thank you, the greatest
mantra.’ When we go beyond
prayer and confession, we
experience gratitude.
We experience the Divine.
Kṛṣṇa explains how we can grow
step-by-step, how we can reach
the ultimate maturity, how we
can create and experience the
Divine at the ultimate level.
Based on how we approach the Divine, only based on how mature we are, the whole community system has been created. How much we enrich and share with society depends on how mature we are. With the same maturity, we approach God also.If we feel money is missing in our lives, we go to the God who gives money. If we miss knowledge, we go to Sarasvatī (the goddess of knowledge), who gives knowledge.
If we feel insecure, we go to the god who protects us; we go to Mother Durgā or Kālī. If we miss spiritual experience, the ultimate experience, then we go to the divine incarnations, the ultimate expressions of the Divine.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Four types of
people come to Me —
caturvidhā bhajante mām’
He explains the four types as
four communities.
The first are the people who
are distressed, i.e., the working
class or śūdra.
The second are the people who
desire wealth, i.e., the business
people or vaiśya.
The third are inquisitive people
who continuously enquire,
continuously ask, ‘Tataḥ kim?
Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim?’ (What
next?)
A kṣatriya, for example, never
rests because he constantly asks,
‘What next? What next? What
next?’
The fourth is the person who
searches for knowledge of the
Absolute: He is a brāhmaṇa.‘
© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved All four come to Me, all four reach Me, but from different levels.’ From different levels all four go to the same God, but they will not experience Him in the same way.
They experience Him in different ways, according to their maturity. As long as you are caught in fear or greed, you will be attracted and go only to those types of gods.
It is easy to go to a temple and pray, but difficult to go to a living Master and meditate. It is for mature people, not for everyone. In the temple we see thousands; but in spiritual places, we see a few hundred. It is not for all; it’s a luxury!
© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved